Insects are incredibly useful to scientists doing experiments to find out more about our world.

Much of our knowledge of certain aspects of genetics is based upon studies using the fruit fly (scientific name: Drosophila melanogaster). Insects may have a very different external organization of body structures, but the underlying physiological and biochemical functions are similar in invertebrates and vertebrates.

Characteristics that make fruit flies very useful in genetics studies include:

• Their complete life cycle, from egg to adult, takes only 8 to 10 days. This is much easier than using, say, hippopotamuses, which take 9 years to reach reproductive age.
• Experiments can be conducted in small containers due to the small size of insects. Thousands of individuals can be reared in these small containers.
• They are easy to rear and the food they eat -- fermenting organic material -- is easily obtainable.
• Fruit flies have giant chromosomes that can be dissected from salivary glands and examined without extremely expensive equipment.
• Different phenotypic expressions of genes in fruit flies (for example, eye color and wing shape) can be easily observed and recorded.